Windows Vista Pricing Official

Microsoft will accept your first-born as a down payment

Published on September 5, 2006 By Zoomba In WinCustomize News

Last week, pricing was leaked on the Microsoft Canada site for the various editions of Windows Vista. Today, Microsoft HQ has made the pricing official after posting Release Candidate 1 on Friday and beginning the push towards release early next year.

Here's a quick overview of the pricing:

	Full Retail Version	Upgrade from Windows XP
Windows Vista Ultimate	$399	$259
Windows Vista Business	$299	$199
Windows Vista Home Premium	$239	$159
Windows Vista Home Basic	$199	$99

Quite a steep price compared to what Windows XP Pro costs. My next OS will cost as much as my XBox 360. That just seems wrong somehow.

Comments (Page 2)

whiterabbit007

on Sep 05, 2006

My next OS will cost as much as my XBox 360. That just seems wrong somehow.

Maybe a better way to look at it would be to say that Vista will cost only a tiny fraction of the price for PS3

The prices are indeed steep and more than I have hoped for, however consider this, how many times do you buy a new operating system? Barring second computers or lost copies, probably once in three four years, maybe less often, and that's not taking into account that a lot of the time you get it with the system. I think seen in this light it's not quite as bad and in any case, Buttermaker, selling an OS like Windows for 50-60 bucks is not realistic, even if it was from a goody-goody company instead of MS.

antivista

on Sep 05, 2006

The prices are indeed steep and more than I have hoped for

yes, if you look at the full retail version... come on. who of you people here are going to be buying anything other than the upgrade version..?

prices are a product of supply and demand - ibm, another high-flying company forgot that rule and suffered real bad for a while (how many 1000's of people did they lay-off) - remember the days when one could buy and throw away 3 taiwanese noname pcs before one had spent the money that an original ibm at-pc (8mhz) cost (timeframe 1986)..? and the taiwansese pcs were just as good as the original ibm..!

as regards the prices, microsoft has no REAL competition at the moment and apart from which they produce damn good products and i'm prepared to pay for them if i need them... for me personally that is the question, do i really need vista now or is 2 or 3 years down the road ok for me... time will tell...

right mow i wish there was a retail version of windows xp media edition - i am right in believing it's only available together with a computer and not on it's own..?

werewolf

on Sep 05, 2006

when i bought XP I purchased an oem version for $89.00 US. I wonder if the same sort of thing will be available for Vista??

Jafo

on Sep 05, 2006

When I bought '98 years ago it was an OEM for AUS $200.

When I last bought XP Pro it was an OEM for AUS $180.

That doesn't seem to be any type of inflationary pricing at all...

ScottyK

on Sep 05, 2006

right mow i wish there was a retail version of windows xp media edition - i am right in believing it's only available together with a computer and not on it's own..?

nope. you can buy WIN MCE 2005. For example you can get it from NewEgg. I use it on my 1st gen store bought MCE (though I only upgraded to 2004 on that one) and on my newer home-brewed box.

Buttermaker

on Sep 06, 2006

ScottyK is right... I bought a retail version of the Media Edition from the local computer store (full version for $150 CDN). It's a wonderful version of Windows.

MarkSnyder61

on Sep 06, 2006

I bought my MCE 2005 by Google Search and paid only $115 USD and installed on a PC I built myself and works great! I also think Vista is over priced but what cha gonna do...but buy it! LOL

paul.stern@live.com

on Sep 07, 2006

Who needs it for that price? I'll probably stick with XP Pro on my Centrino Duo notebook. I think it's a bad move for Microsoft to make it so expensive. When XP came out, it was desperately needed upgrade/improvement over Win98. Vista may be a big upgrade from XP, but XP works pretty good. It's stable and most of the bugs are fixed by now. Why would you want to start all over again? Microsoft is also just starting to face some actual (potential) competition from Apple. I know it's miniscule right now, but there is some momentum building of people beginning to switch thanks to the Ipod and Intel chips. An expensive OS from Microsoft certainly won't help those considering a switch. I think the piracy issue is a real concern, but more of a thorn in Microsoft's side. Pirated software sells for $2. It's hard to compete with $2. In Asia, where the problem is massive, national scale, piracy is seen as a right. People have no sense of stealing. They just do it. Not to mention that legitimate software often isn't even for sale in a given country. How can someone buy legitimate software if it's not for sale? If programs like Windows, Photoshop, Office were widely available for under $50, perhaps piracy would start to dwindle. In these countries internet access is still uncommon and extremely expensive - so the internet is not yet a viable solution. And yes, they know what country you are in. They could determine that you are in such and such a country and therefore you get a certain low price discount. I tried two Online music stores, downloade their software, browsed the catalogs and was told that I couldn't buy music because of the country I am in. I live in a high piracy country. Only Microsoft Music will sell me music online. I wanted this to be short. Sorry for getting carried away.

Vailene

on Sep 08, 2006

yes, if you look at the full retail version... come on. who of you people here are going to be buying anything other than the upgrade version..?

Not saying mine is.. But I'd believe strongly if someone is running Pirated versions of XP.. And I know a FEW even on here.. then yeah.. I'd doubt "just an upgrade" would even work for them.. Who knows.. Sure hackers will come up with a patch for that too..

Bottom line, if your XP isn't genuine.. I'd imagine you'd need a Full Install disc of Vista.

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